sætningsfremhævelse

Sætningsfremhævelse is a linguistic term used in Danish to describe the ways a particular element of a sentence is made salient or highlighted for the listener or reader. It covers processes that mark focus or prominence within an utterance, shaping how information is interpreted and organized in discourse.

The phenomenon can arise through both prosody and syntax. Prosodic emphasis relies on spoken language features such as increased pitch, longer duration, and greater loudness on the focused constituent. In written language, these cues are conveyed indirectly through punctuation or typographic choices, and through the surrounding context.

Syntactic methods of sætningsfremhævelse include several constructions that reframe which part of the sentence is salient. Clear examples are cleft sentences, such as Det var en ny bil, jeg købte, which explicitly highlights “en ny bil” as the focal element. Topicalization or left dislocation places the emphasized element at the beginning of the clause, for example En ny bil, købte jeg. In addition, contrastive focus can be achieved by framing the focal constituent against alternatives or negation, as in structures that indicate that something other than the expected item was purchased.

Functions and use are pragmatic: sætningsfremhævelse helps signal new or contrastive information, guides listener interpretation, and clarifies which element is most relevant in a given discourse. While strongly associated with Danish, the concept aligns with broader linguistic notions of focus and emphasis found in many languages, where prosody and syntax work together to mark salient information within sentences.